"Most Kurds prefer the Republicans who have taken a very clear line on Iraq even if there are no big differences between McCain and Obama," said Aref Abdullah, president of the Kurdish parliament's foreign affairs committee.

"Their differences on Iraq are over form rather than over substance," said Abdullah, a member of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

Seated in his office in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah, in northern Iraq, he recalled that in 2000 the Kurds came out in favour of vice president Al Gore rather than his Republican rival, George W. Bush.

"They thought the Democrats were against the Baathist regime (of Saddam Hussein) but it turned out that the Republicans changed Iraq and not the Democrats," he said.

The Kurds have had autonomy ever since 1991 when a US-led coalition drove Saddam's occupation forces out of Kuwait. They were overjoyed when the US-led invasion of 2003 toppled the Baathists.

In a US-backed constitution drawn up in 2005, their autonomy was expanded to an unprecedented level.

"The Kurds are scared of losing these gains. In 1991, Bush Senior (former president George Bush) created an (air) exclusion zone," which provided a Western security umbrella for the Iraqi Kurds, said Abdullah.

"And his son (President George W.) Bush changed the regime, allowing for the first time a constitution which formally guarantees their rights."

For teacher Yassin Taha: "The ambiguity of Obama's position toward the Kurds raised some worries among the Kurdish elite on the consequences of a change at the top in the United States.

"The Republicans have supported the Kurds of Iraq but there is no guarantee that Obama will continue on the same path because he has clearly stated that he prefers to concentrate on Afghanistan."

-- 'I don't think US policy on Iraq will change' --

In July, during a visit to Kabul, Obama said the United States had been "distracted" by the war in Iraq and should instead be focused on fighting Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.

"And I believe this has to be our central focus, the central front on our battle against terrorism," he said of Afghanistan.

Mohammed Hakim, a senior member of the Islamic group in the regional parliament, acknowledges -- despite backing Obama -- that the Kurdish leadership "prefers Bush and believes McCain would follow the same policies."

In Arbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, the speaker of parliament is more circumspect.

"I don't see a big difference between the two candidates. As far as we can see, it's in the interests of the United States to pursue the policies of the current administration," said Adnan al-Mufti.

"You don't change foreign policy by changing the American president. The big change will be in (US) domestic policy," he said.

The vice president of parliament, Kamal Kirkuli, who belongs to the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Massud Barzani, the president of Iraqi Kurdistan, is of the same opinion.

"I don't think US policy on Iraq will change. There will perhaps be a change in tactics but not in strategy," he said.

But despite the tilt towards McCain, Obama also has his supporters in Sulaimaniyah.

"Obama is young and dynamic. He's perfectly capable of running the world. We've had enough of the policies of Bush and the Republicans, and McCain is the same thing as Bush," said Askul Rassul, 53, a social affairs ministry employee.

She said Kurdistan stood to learn from the example of Washington.

"I hope to see a young person head Iraqi Kurdistan and to finish with the traditional, old leaders," said Rassul, without mentioning by name Talabani who soon turns 75 and Barzani who is aged 62.